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Facility Scheduling Software Adds Social Network Tweaks

By Dian Schaffhauser

01/24/11

A facility scheduling application in use widely by colleges and universities has been updated. Version 3 of Event Management Systems (EMS) from Dean Evans & Associates includes a new function that allows users to share calendar events on social networking sites.

According to Bryan Peck, head of the higher education team, "If there's a lecture from a visiting professor, and it looks interesting, [the user] can click on it on the calendar and they'll see an option to tweet about it or send it to a Facebook page."

The new version also automates some steps in the process of synchronizing courses in a student information system (SIS) with the scheduling of space for those courses. "Before, it was a kind of manual process," Peck said. Users would have to manually choose to bring across course changes made in the SIS, creating a lag between the two steps. Now, that has been streamlined to work automatically with all major student information systems.

The latest release also offers more user flexibility in specifying a space on campus for a given event or course, Peck said. For example, now a user can designate not just a first choice, but a second and third preferred choice as well. The software will take those preferences into account as it automatically finds a room for that event.

"This release will definitely be a crowd pleaser," he added. "It includes many enhancements that our customers have requested, like the ability to divide charges across billing reference numbers, greater Web browser access, and e-mail notifications with links that make it easy for end users to cancel or reconfirm their event."